Washington has noticed Baku’s attempts to torpedo the creation of political conditions for stabilization in the South Caucasus and responded to them. Amid the efforts to find a mutually acceptable mechanism of normalizing Armenian-Turkish relations, Azerbaijan is practicing blackmail and militarist rhetoric. On its official website, the opposition party Yeni Musavat (Azerbaijan) reported that Washington has actually issued an ultimatum to Azerbaijan: if Azerbaijan attempts a military operation in Nagorno-Karabakh, the United States will recognize the latter’s independence.

According to the source, the United States, through Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Tina Kaidanow, has responded to official Baku’s more frequent militaristic statements on the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh problem. Moreover, the American side claims it has information on Azerbaijan’s secret preparations for war. Observers account for official Baku’s militant rhetoric by the fact that the agenda of the Armenian-Azerbaijani negotiations on the status of Nagorno-Karabakh, through the mediation of Russia, the USA and France, does not include the issue of Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity, which is President Ilham Aliyev’s demand.

Quoted by 1news.az, Elhan Polukhov, Press Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan, stated he has no information on Washington’s plans concerning Nagorno-Karabakh. “Azerbaijan is not a state to deal with in terms of ultimatums,” he said. “We are implementing an independent foreign policy proceeding from our national interests,” Polukhov said.

“Polukhov’s comment on Azerbaijan’s independent foreign policy can be viewed as a piece of action science fiction genre. Even Azerbaijan’s domestic policy is coordinated with Turkish and Iranian circles, to say nothing of the USA’s potential. Azerbaijan’s economy is completely dependent on the interests of transnational energy holdings, which invested billions of dollars. Azerbaijan’s attempts to unleash a new war in the region thereby trying to hamper the acquisition of sovereignty by Nagorno-Karabakh will be a direct blow on the interests of quite a number of major players, including Turkey. It will certainly undermine the region’s energy architecture, which has been formed for years. That is why Tina Kaidanow’s warning issued at the crucial stage of preparations for ‘breaking’ the status quo in the Armenian-Turkish and Nagorno-Karabakh processes, is, from Washington’s point of view, very clear and timely. The USA’s recognizing Nagorno-Karabakh will be in full harmony with the Kosovo precedent and contribute to the establishment of long-lasting peace in the region,” the analyst Armen Gevorgyan told NEWS.am.